Stacking container



y 9, 1968 A. P. J. WISEMAN 3,391,824

STACKING CONTAINER Filed June 19, 1964 2 Sheets- Sheet 1 "h' l% A F I G. 4

F 5 INVENTOR.

ANTHONY PATRICK JAMES WISEMAN A TORNEY July 9, 1968 A. P. J. WISEMAN 3,391,824

STACKING CONTAINER Filed June 19, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. ANTHONY PATRICK JAMES WlSEMAN ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,391,824 STACKING CONTAINER Anthony P. J. Wiseman, Culcheth, near Warrington, England, assignor to Rexall Drug and Chemical Company, Los Angeles, Calif., a corporation of Delaware Filed June 19, 1964, Ser. No. 376,346 3 Claims. (Cl. 220--97) It is desirable in mechandising products in containers, particularly plastic containers, that the containers =be capable of being stacked vertically in a stable pile while also permitting an infinite variety of configurations of the container.

The present invention relates to containers and particularly to containers which are adapted to be stacked for display or storage purposes.

A container made according to the present invention has side and bottom walls and an upper end with an upstanding neck unit, normally including a cap for closing a dispensing opening in the neck unit; and having at least one recessed area into contiguous side and bottom walls at the lower extremity of the container. The recess is of a size and shape to receive at least part of the upstanding neck unit when a plurality of such containers are stacked vertically. Specifically, the recesses in the containers are individually designed to house a portion of the neck unit of a similar container, and ideally, a plurality of the recesses form a continuous housing completely enclosing the neck unit of adjacent containers, when the containers are stacked vertically.

Ideally, the container according to the present invention has at least two recesses, one of which is located in each of the side walls of the container so that a row of upper containers may be placed on top of and in staggered relationship to a row of lower containers to interlock the containers together.

It is preferred that the depth of the recesses in the vertical direction (axially of the containers) be sufiiciently deep to receive a substantial portion of the neck unit of an abutting container, and in some arrangements be sufficiently deep to receive all of the neck unit of the abutting container.

The container according to the present invention is preferably molded from a thermoplastic material such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, etc.

The drawings illustrate a presently preferred embodiment of the invention in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a stack of containers made according to the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a cross section taken on line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation view of a single container as shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a bottom plan view of the container shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a cross section taken on line 55 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective of a modified form of container made according to the present invention, placed in stacked relationship;

FIGURE 7 is a side elevation view of a single container as shown in FIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is a bottom plan view of the container shown in FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 is a crosssection taken on line 9-9 of FIGURE 8;

FIGURE 10 is a perspective of a second modified form of container made according to the present invention, placed in stacked relationship;

FIGURE 11 is a bottom plan view of a single container as shown in FIGURE 10;

FIGURE 12 is a perspective view of a third modified form of container made according to the present invention, placed in stacked relationship;

tainers shown in FIGURE 12.

Briefly, the present invention is directed to a container having a hollow body portion, adapted to contain a desired commodity, formed of side and bottom walls and having an upstanding top neck unit. The bottom wall has a substantially fiat portion joined to the side walls at peripheral juncture areas, and at least one recessed area is provided extending into the bottom and side walls at the peripheral juncture area thereof. The container is adapted to be stacked vertically by positioning the neck unit of an underlying container within the recessed area of an overlying container. The recessed areas can be from one to at least four in number depending upon the specific configuration of the container and its base.

Referring specifically to the drawings and FIGURES 1 through 5, the container 15 includes a hollow body portion 16 formed by side walls 17 and front and rear walls 18, and a bottom wall 19. A neck unit 20 is affixed to a top wall 21 which encloses the body portion 16. The neck unit, in preferred form, includes an upstanding externally threaded portion 22 with a central dispensing opening 23 and a cap 24 threadably engaged with the portion 22 for closing the dispensing opening of the container. The dispensing opening also may be closed-by heat sealing, etc., in the conventional manner.

A recess 25 is provided in each side wall 17 at the point of juncture of the side wall with the bottom wall 19. Preferably the recess in each side wall is at the lower extremity of the container and extends inwardly of the side wall 17 and the bottom wall 19 in the manner shown in FIGURES 2 and 5. The recess is preferably circular in horizontal cross-section with side walls 26 and a top wall 27 to conform to the shape of the neck unit. The configuration of the recess generally conforms to the shape of the neck unit and is of suflicient size to receive a substantial portion of the neck unit. The neck unit and recess can be circular, square, etc. In the embodiment shown in FIGURES 1 through 5, the recess 25 is sufficiently large to receive at least half of the neck unit in the manner shown in the drawings.

The container shown in FIGURES 6 through 9 is similar in construction to the container of FIGURES 1 through 5 except that this modified container is provided with recesses 30 at each of the corners of the rectangular or square base wall 19. Each of the recesses 30 is provided with a top wall 31 and a side wall 32. Preferably each of the recesses is at least sufficiently large to receive one-quarter of the neck unit 20 when the containers are in the stacked relationship shown in FIGURE 6. When four of the recesses 30 are positioned adjacent each other, the resulting recess is sufficiently large to receive the entire unit 20.

The modified container shown in FIGURE 10 is similar in construction to the container of FIGURES 6 through 8 but does not have a top wall 21. Rather the side walls 17 of the containers slope downwardly from the neck unit 20 to the base wall 19. It is important in this configuration that the base wall 19 be rectangular or square to provide the proper recesses 30 at the corners of the base for stacking as shown in FIGURE 10. In a container such as shown in FIGURES 10 and 11, where the primary support for the upper layer of containers is through the engagement of the neck unit with the top wall of the recess, the minimum distance Y as shown in FIG- URE 11 is equal to the square root of (A -l-A )-0.9B/2 wherein A is equal to one dimension of the container, A is equal to the other dimension of the container, and B is the effective diameter of the neck unit. The maximum distance for Y is equal to the square root of (A l-A On containers having a regular square base the minimum Y distance is equal to /2A-O.9B/2 and the maximum diameter Y is equal to /2A wherein A is the dimension of the container shown in FIGURE 11 and B is the effective diameter of the neck unit.

In FIGURES 12 and 13 I have shown a further modified form of the container which is generally designated 35 in its modified form. This container is substantially similar in construction to the containers shown in FIG- URES 6 through 11 but has a triangular base 36 having recesses 37 at the bottom points of the triangle. The recesses 37 are in a location in the configuration to receive the neck unit 20.

The configuration of FIGURES 19 utilizes a stacking arrangement wherein the top containers are supported solely by engagement of the neck unit of the lower container with the top wall of the recess of the top container, or solely by engagement of the bottom wall of the top container with the top wall of the bottom container, or a combination of both of the aforementioned engagements. The vertical dimensions of the recesses can be easily adjusted to provide for the type of engagement desired.

The configuration of FIGURES 10-13 utilizes a stacking arrangement wherein the top containers are supported solely by engagement of the neck unit of the lower container with the top wall of the recess of the top container.

While I have shown a presently preferred embodiment of my invention, it may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A container having a hollow 'body portion formed of side and bottom walls and a centrally extending top neck unit, the bottom wall having a substantially fiat portion joined to the side walls at the peripheral juncture areas, a recessed area extending into the bottom and side walls at the peripheral juncture areas thereof, one of said recessed areas being located on each side of said container; a plurality of said containers being stackable in a pyramidal configuration by forming a base layer of containers in abutting relationship to each other, and forming additional layers of containers on top of the base layer with the neck units of the lower layer containers positioned in individual recesses of the next upper layer containers.

2. A container according to claim 1 wherein the containers are positioned in abutting relationship to each other in each layer with recesses in the containers in faceto-face alignment, and the aligned recesses being sufiiciently large to encompass a single neck unit of a container positioned in a next lower layer.

3. A container having a hollow body portion formed of side and bottom walls and a centrally extending top neck unit, the bottom wall being triangular and having a substantially flat portion joined to the side walls at peripheral juncture areas; a recessed area located at each of the points of the triangular bottom wall and extending into the bottom and side walls a suflicient distance to receive at least part of one of said neck units; a plurality of said containers being stackable in a pyramidal configuration by forming a base layer of containers, and forming an additional layer of containers on top of the base layer with the neck units of the base layer containers being positioned in the individual recesses of the additional layer containers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,641,374 6/1953 Deryuen 2151O 2,950,844 8/1960 Hollingshead 220976 X 2,960,248 11/1960 Kuhlman 215l0 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,343,060 10/ 1962 France.

63,726 7/ 1945 Denmark.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE E. LOWRANCE, Examiner. 

1. A CONTAINER HAVING A HOLLOW BODY PORTION FORMED OF SIDE AND BOTTOM WALLS AND A CENTRALLY EXTENDING TOP NECK UNIT, THE BOTTOM WALL HAVING A SUBSTANTIALLY FLAT PORTION JOINED TO THE SIDE WALL AT THE PERIPHERY JUNCTURE AREAS, A RECESSED AREA EXTENDING INTO THE BOTTOM AND SIDE WALLS AT THE PERIPHERAL JUNCTURE AREAS THEREOF, ONE OF SAID RECESSED AREAS BEING LOCATED ON EACH SIDE OF SAID CONTIANER; A PLURALITY OF SAID CONTAINERS BEING STACKABLE IN A PYRAMIDAL CONFIGURATION BY FORMING A BASE LAYER OF CONTAINERS IN ABUTTING RELATIONSHIP TO EACH OTHER, AND FORMING ADDITIONAL LAYERS OF CONTAINERS ON TOP OF THE BASE LAYER WITH THE NECK UNITS OF THE LOWER LAYER CONTAINERS POSITIONED IN INDIVIDUAL RECESSES OF THE NEXT UPPER LAYER CONTAINERS. 